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Asset disposals

Asset disposals

Overview

The Disposals screen holds the historical record of every fixed asset written off by sale or by permanent retirement in the active company. Each disposal shows the asset involved, the date, the disposal type, the proceeds received, the net book value at disposal (NBV) and the resulting gain or loss. Fixed asset Accounting staff use this screen to supervise, audit and review the company's disposal records.

Note: disposals are not created from this screen. They are recorded from the individual asset's record (Assets > [selected asset] > Dispose).

How to get there

In the side menu, expand Accounting and click Disposals.

URL path: /Accounting/disposals

Key concepts

Term Definition
Asset disposal Permanently writing off a fixed asset, either by sale to a third party or by retirement (decommissioning, destruction, obsolescence, donation).
Sale The disposal type where the asset is transferred for a price. It produces proceeds and, potentially, a gain or a loss.
Retirement A disposal with no proceeds: the asset is discarded with no economic consideration. The proceeds stay at zero.
NBV at Disposal The asset's net book value on the disposal date, calculated as: acquisition cost - posted accumulated depreciation + revaluation or impairment adjustments.
Proceeds The amount received for selling the asset. On a retirement it is always zero.
Gain / Loss The difference between the proceeds and the NBV at disposal. A positive value is a gain on disposal; a negative value is a loss.
Disposal journal entry The journal batch in Pending status the system generates automatically when the disposal is recorded, based on historical cost: a credit to the asset cost, a debit to accumulated depreciation, a debit to the disposal clearing account (for the proceeds) and a debit or credit to the gain/loss on disposal account.

How to use it

Record an asset disposal

Disposals start from the asset's record, not from this list screen.

  1. In the side menu, go to the Assets section and open the record of the asset you want to write off. The asset must be Active; the disposal button only appears in that state.
  2. In the asset record's header, click Dispose.
  3. The Dispose Asset dialog opens with these fields:
    • Disposal date (required): enter the effective disposal date. It defaults to today.
    • Retirement (no proceeds): tick this box if the asset is being retired with no income at all (retirement, write-off for damage, obsolescence and so on). Ticking it hides the Proceeds field and the system records zero income.
    • Proceeds (visible only when Retirement is not ticked): enter the amount received for the sale. Minimum value: 0.
    • Notes: an optional field describing the reason or circumstances of the disposal.
  4. Click Dispose to confirm, or Cancel to close without saving.
  5. The system automatically:
    • Calculates the NBV: acquisition cost - posted accumulated depreciation + any revaluation or impairment adjustments recorded up to that date.
    • Calculates the gain or loss: proceeds - NBV.
    • Changes the asset's status to Retired (for a retirement) or Disposed (for a sale).
    • Generates a disposal journal batch in Pending status under Accounting > Journal batches.
  6. The notification "Asset disposed successfully." appears. The disposal shows up immediately in this screen's table.

Prerequisite: the asset model must have every GL account code needed to process the disposal: the asset account, the accumulated depreciation account, the disposal clearing account and the gain/loss on disposal account. If any is missing, the system rejects the disposal with the message "Asset model [name] is missing GL account codes for disposal". The asset and depreciation accounts are configured under Master > Asset models; the disposal and revaluation accounts are configured by P4 Software on the model, so if you see this error, ask support to set them up.

Review the disposal history

The table shows every disposal recorded for the active company, sorted by Disposal Date descending (newest first) by default.

  • Sort: click any column header to switch between ascending and descending order.
  • Filter: use the filter controls in the column headers to narrow the results by asset, date, type, amounts or other criteria.
  • Clear filters: when filters are active, the Clear filters link appears in the screen header; click it to restore the full view.
  • Refresh: click Refresh (the reload icon) in the header's top right corner to refresh the table manually.
  • Print the certificate: the Certificate column has a button on each row. Click it to open that disposal's Disposal certificate (PDF) in a new browser tab.

When no disposal exists for the active company, the table shows: "Dispose or retire an asset to record a disposal."

Fields

Disposal table columns

Field Type Required Description Validation
Asset Text (read-only) - The unique code of the disposed asset. -
Disposal Date Date (read-only) - The effective date the disposal was recorded. Format: month dd, yyyy. The table sorts by this column by default (descending). -
Type Badge (read-only) - The disposal type recorded: Sale or Retirement. -
Proceeds Numeric (read-only) - The amount received for selling the asset, to two decimals. On Retirement disposals the value is 0.00. -
NBV at Disposal Numeric (read-only) - The asset's net book value on the disposal date (cost - accumulated depreciation + revaluations), to two decimals. -
Gain / Loss Numeric (read-only) - The difference between the proceeds and the NBV at disposal. Positive is a gain; negative is a loss. Numeric, two decimals. -
Certificate Button (read-only) - Opens that disposal's Disposal certificate (PDF) in a new tab. The column is not sorted or filtered. -

Fields of the "Dispose Asset" dialog (reached from the asset record)

Field Type Required Description Validation
Disposal date Date field Yes The effective disposal date. It defaults to today. Required.
Retirement (no proceeds) Checkbox No When ticked, the disposal is recorded as a retirement with no income and the Proceeds field is hidden. -
Proceeds Numeric field No The amount received for selling the asset. Only visible when Retirement (no proceeds) is not ticked. Numeric value >= 0.
Notes Multiline text field No Comments or a description of the reason for the disposal. Maximum 1,000 characters.

Permissions

Available to users with access to the module, as configured by your administrator.

Notes

  • Required GL account codes: for the disposal to process without errors, the asset model must have configured: Asset Account Code, Accum. Depreciation Account Code, Disposal Clearing Account Code (when the proceeds are greater than zero) and Gain-Loss on Disposal Account Code. If any is missing, the system rejects the disposal naming the model affected.
  • Active Assets only: the Dispose button only appears on the asset record when its status is Active. Assets that are Disposed, Retired or Fully Depreciated cannot be processed again.
  • How the NBV is calculated: the system takes accumulated depreciation exclusively from runs in Posted status. Runs in Draft status are not included in the calculation.
  • Historical cost basis: the journal entry generated is based on the asset's historical cost: debit accumulated depreciation, debit the proceeds (the disposal clearing account), credit the asset cost, and the difference (the gain or loss) goes to the gain/loss on disposal account.
  • Journal batch in Pending: the disposal automatically generates a batch under Accounting > Journal batches in Pending status, for review, approval and later integration with CifraHQ or other Accounting systems.
  • Automatic refresh when switching company: the table refreshes automatically when the active company is changed in the application header's company selector.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Likely cause Resolution
The Dispose button does not appear on the asset record. The asset is not Active (it may be Retired, Disposed or Fully Depreciated). Check the asset's status on its record. Only Active Assets can be disposed of.
Error confirming the disposal: "Asset model [...] is missing GL account codes for disposal". The asset model is missing one or more GL account codes required for disposal. Complete the named model's asset and depreciation accounts under Master > Asset models. The disposal clearing and gain/loss accounts are not editable from the application: ask P4 Software support to configure them.
Error: "Only active Assets can be disposed". You tried to dispose of an asset that is not Active. Check the asset's current status. Disposal is only available for Active Assets.
The disposal table is empty with the empty-state message. No disposals have been recorded for the active company. Record the first disposal from an active asset's record (Assets > [asset] > Dispose).
The disposal was recorded but does not appear in the list. The table may not have refreshed after the change. Click Refresh (the reload icon) in the screen header's top right corner.
The calculated gain or loss is not what you expected. The calculation includes every revaluation or impairment adjustment posted up to the disposal date, and only depreciation from runs in Posted status. Review the asset's revaluation history and make sure every relevant depreciation run is Posted before processing the disposal.

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